Help

Whatchyoo talkin' 'bout, mojoLive?

What's a mojo Score (your mojo)?

Your mojo Score (aka your mojo, for short) is an at-a-glance measure of how
you're doing in your career. It's most useful for apples-to-apples comparisons,
so comparing a computer programmer's mojo against an auto mechanic's mojo won't
tell you a lot. Use it to track how marketable you're getting. Bigger is better!

Caps? Huh?

Since your mojo Score grows over the years as you grow in your career,
we've created fun things to unlock to help gauge your progress,
prompt you to do good things for your career, or just 'cuz. They're
caps, and you unlock them for growing in your career or just using mojoLive in
good ways.

Um, achievements?

No, these aren't your Xbox achievements — unless you're a professional Xbox
player. They are things you'd want people in the professional world to know you've
done. They could be awards you've won, certificates you've earned,
or good scores you've gotten (in tests…get your mind out of the Xbox).

What the heck's a portfolio?

In the design world, your portfolio is a representative sample of your work that
shows who you are as a designer and what you're capable of. We think everybody
should have a portfolio! So if you've got something you worked on out there on
the web someplace, put a link to it and say how you were involved in making it.
You can put as many as you like, but they should give people a feel for what you
can do.

Er, involvements?

Just like extracurricular activities look good on a college application,
professional and community involvement help your career. So post anything you do
outside of work that reflects well on you, and if there's nothing near you,
organize something!

The mojo Score:

What goes into my mojoLive score?

Everything! Well, everything you enter into your profile, that is. Unlike a plain
old resume, mojoLive counts everything, including conferences you attend, articles
or blogs you’ve written, committees you serve on, and other accomplishments and
involvement. That said, not everything is necessarily good for your score…

So how do I make my score go up?

Well, that’s the $64,000 question, isn’t it? To some degree, that’s the special
sauce that is the mojoLive algorithm, and it’s proprietary, and we’re not telling.
But what we can tell you is that generally speaking, things that are looked upon
favorably in the job market will help your score – time in a role and/or at a
company, overall experience, activities and actions that suggest you’re constantly
on the hunt for opportunities to learn and grow professionally.

Why did my score go down?

Again, we can’t share all the details, but it is possible for scores to fluctuate
based on all the data in the mojoLive system. Sometimes, actions (or inactions)
you take with your profile can cause changes in either direction; we also factor
in the “wisdom of the crowd” – you’ll notice there are opportunities to rate items
and individuals throughout the profiles. So, even if you’re a rock star, you might
be rockin’ in a muzak world. That can have an impact on your score, as can the
types of information you enter yourself, the value others assign to your skills
and level of proficiency, and the recognition you earn along the way.

Why does [user name here] have a higher/lower score than I do, when we have such
similar profiles?

Referencing the answers above, there are a lot of factors – really, a LOT of factors
– that go into the algorithm that determines scores. It is possible that two people
with similar profiles could still have enough differences in individual algorithm
components (ratings, timing, etc.) to make their scores noticeably different.

I just entered a whole bunch of stuff in my profile, but my score didn’t change
(or only went up 2 points…or actually went down…). What gives?

Well, the beauty of the system is that it isn’t as simple as “enter stuff, drive up
mojoLive score.” Between the myriad factors that comprise your score, the ability
of others’ ratings to influence the value of items within the algorithm, and some
anti-game-the-system measures that are in place to guard against
artificially-inflated scores, sometimes there can be too much of a good thing.
Rest assured, if you’ve entered legitimate information and it’s the kind of stuff
that’s valued in the career marketplace, you’ll most likely see your score rise
over time. Be patient.

Ratings:

Ratings? What ratings?

Maybe you’ve heard – one of the most meaningful aspects of mojoLive.com (if we do
say so ourselves) is the power of the crowd. Our magic algorithm is built from
myriad data points, weighted and combined and calculated to provide the most accurate
scores possible. But, you have some influence too. Snuck in as a “rollover” feature
(slightly delayed, so as not to be obtrusive – and ‘cause we kinda liked having a
slightly hidden element) is the ability for you to rate the schools, companies,
skills, achievements, and involvements—and other users—in the mojo system. When you
look at a company or school name (or skill, achievement, etc.) you should see an
ever-so-faint, orange dotted line underneath. That signals that it’s a ratable item,
so if you hover your mouse over that term for just a second, you’ll see a pop-up box
with a simple 5-star system for rating those items – and in the case of companies
and schools, you can also rate the individual person as an employee or student at
that institution. You can rate all the main data points (schools, companies, skills,
achievements, and involvements – as well as users), except yourself. Because really,
who would rate themselves poorly?

How do I make ratings “stick”?

Not to worry, it’s as easy as it looks. The rate box will “stick” with the last star
you clicked on – no need to “save” anything. So, to rate something as 4 stars, click
on the fourth star (counting from left to right), and you’re good to go. And you can
always go back and change your mind. The system is fluid, and your ratings are only
good until you decide they’re not – you can go back and adjust them at any time.

What, exactly, am I rating? And how do I rate an “involvement”?

Each item should be rated in its proper context. So, if it says “rate this
employer,” you would rate the company as an employer. In other words, ABC Co. may
have great products, but be known as a notoriously bad career move in your field.
That should be a consideration when you rate that company. Ratings for individual
people should be in the context of “rate the person at this employer” or “at this
school,” so ratings for a single person may vary across a person’s career – and you
may not realistically be able to provide a knowledgeable rating for a user in every
element of his profile if you’ve only worked with him at one company or don’t have
personal experience with some of the companies or skills, for example.

For skills, rating the skill means “in terms of how important this skill is in the
marketplace.” It may be great that someone has achieved Level 62 Mage status on
World of Warcraft, but it may not mean much in the professional world – rate it
accordingly. Achievements and Involvements should be considered the same way: is it
something relevant to his or her field? is it something that is meaningful in
developing a well-rounded, experienced professional, even if it falls outside a
particular career path? can this particular community involvement be building skills
that could be used in her professional life? Rate accordingly.

Caps:

Reading the description of the [insert cap name here] cap, I believe I’ve met the
criteria to earn it – but I haven’t gotten it yet. Why not?

Hard to say, but if you think you’ve legitimately earned a cap that you’re not
getting credit for, send us a request through the feedback link and we’ll take
a look.

Do caps count in my mojoLive score?

No, but some of the same criteria can
affect your mojoLive score.

Profile:

Why do I have to choose a start/end month? Why can’t I just use years? Maybe I
don’t want everyone to know I was only at a job for two months.

This is largely
because every little bit of information counts in the calculation of your mojo score.
And the reality is, someone who was at a job from January to December of 2010 has a bit
of a market value edge over someone who was there from January to February.

What if I don’t remember what month I started or left a job?

Pick one. But keep in mind that while you can technically choose whatever you want
here and you’re just on-your-honor to choose accurately, eventually someone may use this
information to screen you for a job opportunity, and then you’ll have to answer for
whatever you’ve entered here.

Does mojoLive really count high school?

We’ll say it again: Everything. Counts.

I want to add something to my portfolio, but it doesn’t have a URL, so mojoLive
won’t let me save it. How do I add a publication that isn’t on the web?

Portfolio items are intended to be “for showing off,” where other users can go look
at them and therefore accurately rate them, so the URL is mandatory. But, you can still
get mojoLive “credit” for non-web items by including them under “achievements” instead.
And by the way, don’t forget to think outside the box a little with URLs: an amazon
listing for an out-of-print book is still a URL.

Why can I sort my portfolio but not the other sections of my profile?

Well here is why: the other sections each have natural sorting applied that makes
sense for that section. Perhaps by dates, or alphabetically, or a combination of
such, and we want that consistency across all profiles so people can expect where
to see certain items. However, your portfolio is all about you, and where
we want to let you brag & shine. So we are letting you sort those
into your own preference of order.

What's up with the different skill levels?

We want you to be able to declare how skilled you feel you are. To self-assess as
it were. After talking with our users and doing some research, we decided to stop
arguing about what levels to have and to just listen to the experts. Therefore
we've implemented a 5-level system known as the
Dreyfus Model.
If you are having trouble deciding exactly what level you are at, don't sweat it too
much. Just take a good stab at it, or go read up on the Dreyfus Model a little bit
if you want to satisfy your inner OCD to make sure you pick exactly the right one.

Why should I mark skills as active?

While we want you coming back often, we don't want to waste your time updating
how long you've used each skill. Tick the "active skill" checkbox, and we'll
take care of that for you, incrementing it automatically each month.